THE GARDENING WORLD. 
287 
April 8, 1905. 
Horticultural Club. 
On Tuesday, the 28th ult., at the monthly dinner of this 
tub, held under the presidency of Mr. Hairy .). Veitch, on 
liicli occasion Dr. Henry and Sir Herbert Maxwell were 
aiests and many members and friends were present. Dr. Henry 
lave a most interesting lecture on “ Forests wild and cul- 
ivated," illustrated by a large number of lantern slides. The 
lain purpose of the lecture was the advocacy of the utilisation 
f many large areas of waste land in Great Britain, and espe- 
ially in Ireland and Scotland, as forest land. The illustra- 
lions started with a map of the world, showing the presumed 
reas originally covered with primaeval forests, now to a very 
krge extent denuded. 
This map showed clearly that the growth of timber depended 
ssentially upon the extent of the rainfall and not upon tem¬ 
perature or special richness of soil. The temperature ques- 
iou was determined by the existence of forests well into the 
Irrctic zone, while as regards soil, a number of 
he slides, all photographic, demonstrated 
hat fine timber trees could thrive and 
Sourish in soil which was practically nothing 
hut stones and rocky rubble, and in other in- 
tances dense forests were shown to have 
‘listed at one time on deep peat beds, in 
vhicli their remains were found to this day. 
This pointed the lecturer’s moral as regarded 
.reland, especially where he maintained that 
'orest cultivation on the lines indicated by 
Continental experiments and results was en- 
irely practicable and capable of transforming 
.vaste land inhabited now sparsely and by an 
impoverished population, into thriving indus¬ 
trial areas. In this connection he instanced 
in area of over a million acres in France 
which exactly illustrated this possibility, since 
thirty or forty years- ago the whole district 
was bare and supported but a few peasants 
and shepherds, while at the present moment 
it is clothed with profitable timber, which in 
the way of timber and by-products supported 
a number of thriving towns. 
By a series of slides taken in one of the 
same forests at different spots, Dr. Henry 
dearly demonstrated how this was done, and 
by other slides taken in this country, lie also 
showed how it should not be done. The secret 
ippears to lie in dense growth. One slide, 
or instance, showed an Oak forest, in which 
he trunks were so close together as hardly 
o admit of passage between. The trees con- 
■equently formed tall pole-like trunks, perfectly straight and 
levo-id of lateral branches. This means sound timber 
ievoid of knots, as was shown by separate slides of 
wo trees grown on near and far-apart systems and 
■ections of plants derived from the same, the latter of 
Much were full of knots and the former without a trace, the 
ateral branches being early suppressed by the induced shade. 
)ne Oak was shown with a straight trunk of 90 ft. below a 
broom-like top, utterly belying the ordinary idea of an Oak 
ree, and repugnant, perhaps, to the artistic sense, but com¬ 
mercially precisely what was needed. 
Other views showed the processes of thinning out the timber 
when fit for sale, and of subsequently regenerating, which was 
practically left to nature by means of self-sown seedlings which 
I prang up when light was admitted by partial clearance. Trees 
here divided by the lecturer into two classes-—shade-bearing 
rees and non-shade-bearing ; that is, trees which spon- 
aneously killed off their lower branches as they developed be- 
ause their foliage could not stand the induced shade of the 
upper growth, and trees which formed dense masses- to the 
ground for the opposite reason. 
Another point finely illustrated by slides upset the idea 
hat the native habitats of trees and other plants were neces¬ 
sarily such as best fitted them for full development. Sp. , 
mens of exotic trees grown in the British I let 
winch were the largest known specimens in the 
the same species were shown in their native habit;.t- 
relatively small specimens. In the discussion which h llm -i 
the lecture Sir Herbert Maxwell raised the vexed question of 
the rabbit as perhaps the greatest hindrance to reaffore-iation, 
owing to its attacks upon seedling trees, and it was elicited 
that in the Continental examples rabbits were relatively 
scarce. Mr. Arthur Pearson also challenged the profitable 
nature of forestry in this country, and instanced cases vi 
timber was unsaleable. The opinion, however, was expres-e l 
by Sir H. Maxwell that this question ranked with that of the 
small producer of vegetables or fruits, and would be answered 
satisfactorily if timber raising were elevated to a really prac¬ 
tical industry on a large scale, as on the Continent. 
A very hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Dr. Henry, 
whose observations were obviously of such great practical and 
economical value that it is to be hoped they may appear in 
extenso in the “ Journal ” of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
Pruning: its Objects and Effects. 
The season for pruning has gone by for the present, but the 
time for observing its effects is with us, and we should do well 
to watch closely, and see how we can improve in the way of 
manipulating the fruit trees in the future. Some of the princi¬ 
pal objects of pruning are : — 
To produce and preserve balance and symmetry ; to induce 
fruitfulness in all seasons ; to improve the quality of the fruit 
produced; and in some cases, where space is limited, to 
restrict the size of trees. 
I hope it is not the case in the North, but in the part of the 
South where I reside, pruning, with very few exceptions, has 
become a farce, and might as well be done with the hedge- 
shears, for it consists merely of shortening back the drools, 
large and small alike, and it is generally done just as the trees 
are starting into growth in the spring. 
The season of operating is wrong, and the method is wrong. 
